KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 (Bernama) -- Permodalan Negeri Selangor Berhad (PNSB)
was given the approval last year to go ahead with the construction of 210
houses near the Bukit Cahaya Sri Alam Agriculture Park in Bukit Cerakah.

Its public relations executive Alina Idris said the approval was obtained
after receiving feedback from the Department of Environment (DOE) and the
Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) after the water retention pond
built by PNSB conformed to the stipulated specifications.

Alina was responding to a Bernama report on Jan 11 on the development of a
housing project by PNSB in the "sensitive" Bukit Cerakah area which raised
polemics among nature lovers two years ago.

A housing development company was hauled up to court for not complying with
the conditions for approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
report.

In the report, Bernama stated that the PNSB had temporarily postponed earth-levelling
work pending the visit of DOE and DID officials to assess construction of
the water retention pond which must be built by all developers.

Bernama also quoted PNSB general manager (Monitoring and Project
Coordination) Mohd Azlan Kachong as saying that the company had learnt from
mistakes made by previous developers at the sensitive area so that no
problems would crop up after this.

Mohd Azlan was also reported to have said that the PNSB was very careful and
abided by the law so that the 30.5 hectares (75 acres) received the EIA
approval first, even though the work procedures to develop a land of that
size needed not require the approval.

Alina said when Mohd Azlan was interviewed by Bernama a day before the news
report was published, the company received the assessment from the DOE and
DID that the water retention pond had fulfilled the specifications, and
hence approval was given to continue the housing project.